A frog sees an ox in the meadow and swells herself up to match his size. Her children say she is still not nearly big enough, so she pushes harder than before with all her strength until her skin cannot hold so much air and bursts, and that is the end of her.
One day a frog sat at the edge of a meadow and watched an ox grazing there. He was very tall and very wide, and the sight of him set her thinking. If she filled her wrinkled skin with air, surely she could be every bit as big as he was.
So she took a long breath and swelled herself up, and it seemed to her that she was quite as grand as the ox.
“Children,” she said, “am I as big as he is now?”
“No,” said her children. “Not nearly.”
The frog breathed in again and puffed herself rounder still.
“And now?” she asked. “Am I as big as he is?”
“No,” said her children. “Not nearly.”
Then the frog drew the deepest breath of all and pushed with every scrap of her strength, harder than she had pushed before. Her skin could not hold so much air. It burst, and that was the end of her.
Retold by Talerie, Source: Fábulas de Esopo (opens in a new window)
License: Public domainCopy this text, adapt it, use it however you like. A link back to Talerie is appreciated but never required.CC0 1.0 (opens in a new window)
